


Campfire Stories

by fluffy_papaya



Series: Scattered [3]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Conversations about Death, Ghosts, References to body horror, ethos fuckin dead, question mark?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28516173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffy_papaya/pseuds/fluffy_papaya
Summary: Xisuma and Bdubs talk about a friend.
Relationships: Xisumavoid & John | BdoubleO100
Series: Scattered [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082057
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	Campfire Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadeSwift99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeSwift99/gifts).



There’s a somber mood over the camp, tonight.

The flames crackle happily, the stars twinkle brightly overhead, and for once, everyone has had a full meal- the farm Beef made had finally paid off.

But despite the warm and full feeling of camp, there’s a persistent chill that blows in between the tents, sending showers of sparks to land at Bdubs’ feet.

The builder has a burnt stick and is drawing patterns on rocks with charcoal- build plans, caricatures of his friends, a stupid math problem Joe brought up- things he would much rather put in a journal, if he had one.

But there’s a morose way to how he drags the stick on stone, and he supposes its miserable enough someone sent someone to check on him.

Xisuma takes a heavy seat next to him on the log, quietly humming.

“Hey, Bdubs.”

“Hi, Shishwam.”

It’s heavy, between them. Neither of them dare of make eye contact, knowing their conversation will turn more testy if they do, and not just because of the enderman-ish traits Bdubs has picked up along the way.

Bdubs sighs, staring at the flames and jabbing his sticks at the rocks.

“I saw him. Once. In the void.”

“Only once?”

“A long enough drop and a rare enough spawn that if he did come around, ol’ Bdubs didn’t see him. Except for that one time.” Bdubs gives up completely on the stick, just tossing it into the flames with an annoyed huff.

Xisuma watches the sparks land on his blackened and teal boot.

“And it was- it was Etho!” Bdubs’ tone takes on a desperate edge, and he stands up, hands spread nervously as he tries to explain himself. “I uh, I talked to Impulse too. He gets what I’m trying to say. We both saw Etho once, and it was just this… he’s just one dude! A sneaky rascal, an absolute genius, but he’s just one guy. But we saw him once and it was like…”

“Like you could suddenly move again.” Xisuma offered softly, and Bdubs nodded fervently. “I saw him once, too. He came around to my spawn a few, but I only saw him once. He punched the Warden for me.”

“Course he did! He’s nuts!”

“He was. Is. Ugh, my goodness, it’s hard to describe it, but he was just someone who gave you hope.”

Bdubs slowly sinks back down onto his log, leaning against Xisuma as the admin talks.

“He punched the ugly git right in the antler.” Xisuma chuckled. “Must’ve been painful, it backed away for long enough that I could get to my cubby hole. Etho tried to follow, but-“

“Poofed.” Bdubs whispered. “He hugged me as we fell in the Void, and then he poofed into smoke. Zizuma, I didn’t know if he was real or not-“

“He just poofed.” Xisuma agreed, looking down at his communicator.

The death messages have all but stopped- with Wels being the last Hermit to straggle into camp, everyone has set their spawn here and has been careful. Torch spam, walls, two bows that often switched hands, whatever the Hermits needed to survive.

But the death messages have stopped- there hasn’t been a death message in two weeks.

Xisuma stared at the last one in chat.

_ Etho was struck by lightning. _

For once, a death that none of them had experienced on this world. No death loops to be had with it, no familiar enemy that Etho had to face.

He should’ve spawned back at camp. He had set his spawn there for the time being, and had gone out to find food.

None of them saw the lightning, but they all heard the rolling thunder that followed, echoing across the plains and in between distant mountain peaks.

Xisuma looked away from his comm, refusing to let himself get sucked into a memory or guilt. His hand found Bdubs’ and enderman-like paws grabbed his armored claws, squeezing tight.

“He’ll make it back home.” Bdubs whispered- maybe for more his own sake than Xisuma’s. “He’ll make it back home, and then we can both punch him for stressing us out.”

”I’ll punch him and then sit him down for tea.”

”I’ll punch him and sit down for tea with you two too.”

“I can work with that.” Xisuma throws his arm around Bdubs and holds him tight, the two of them staring at the ever-dying flames, and the sparks that blow into the night sky.

And beside them, Etho smiles, unseen.

“I can probably work with that too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, with the Scattered AU coming to a close over on tumblr, I felt it was fair to contribute one last time? lucky things come in threes and all.  
> But honestly, thank you Shade for such a fun and unique time. It’s been an honor to help spark ideas in this crazy au, and I know everyone has had so much fun with it.
> 
> If you think I need to tag something, let me know!  
> If you don’t think that, let me know what you thought?


End file.
